After MEPS found out I'm allergic to amoxcicillin?

January 18th, 2012, 12:39 AM

Honestly, this sounds bad. I already swore in after meps and all, and have my first drill soon. I always thought I wasn't allergic to anything and recently mentioned it to my mom, she said I was allergic to amoxicillin and have been since I was a child. I swear I didn't know. I hear they give you a penicillin shot at reception. What should I do?

Honestly, this sounds bad. I already swore in after meps and all, and have my first drill soon. I always thought I wasn't allergic to anything and recently mentioned it to my mom, she said I was allergic to amoxicillin and have been since I was a child. I swear I didn't know. I hear they give you a penicillin shot at reception. What should I do?

I would tell your recruiter especially if your reaction was severe as severe reactions can be life threatening. Be honest about not knowing until you talked to your mom. Unless regs have changed, an allergy to an antibiotiic should not be a problem. I knew a few people in basic that had antiibiotic allergies and they had to wear a red dog tag that stated their allergy. Again, thus is just what I saw and that could have changed.
Also, I didn't get an antibiotic shot at reception but I don't know if some places do it. Seems odd that they would do that bcz research shows that you can build up an antiibiotic resistance so why get a shot if you don't need it? But, I am not a doctor - just my two cents.

How severe is your allergy? I came across this but again things change do much...

2–30. Systemic diseases j. History of anaphylaxis (995.0), including, but not limited to idiopathic and exercise-induced; anaphylaxis to venom, including stinging insects (989.5); foods or food additives (995.60–69); or to natural rubber latex (989.82), does not meet the standard.

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Honestly, this sounds bad. I already swore in after meps and all, and have my first drill soon. I always thought I wasn't allergic to anything and recently mentioned it to my mom, she said I was allergic to amoxicillin and have been since I was a child. I swear I didn't know. I hear they give you a penicillin shot at reception. What should I do?

I just got back from basic training on October from Fort Sill and on 'shot day' the DS's made it CLEAR that EVERYONE would be getting the penicillin shot, unless, they said you ''had the red dog tag saying you were allergic''. This being said there was no one with this dog tag; I don't know if it was because, like robinpugs said, it would normally DQ you or if they offer a waiver for it. It doesn't feel great; it done in your hip/**** and is called the 'peanut butter' shot becuase it is a thick dose into the muscle. (I heard grown men cry out from behind the curtain...lol) It is sore afterwords but the more you move, the less it hurts.

Definitely TALK TO YOUR RECRUITER to see if this is something that needs to be noted (red dog tagged) before reception (that's where you'll get it). You don't want to be help over in reception, it's booooooring enough without being stuck there while your buddies have done down range ('across the tracks' at Sill).

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I dont think this would be a big issue, just be honest. When you go back to your recruiter, tell them, and when you ship let Meps know that there was a change. You will get a Red Medical ID Tag, your just allergic to amoxcicillin and probably most penicillin products, they will just substitute with a sulphur based med. I can think of a few soldiers off the top of my head with this situation and my own son is allergic to penicillin, hasnt slowed any of them down a bit. Go Forth and Conquer...

You can also consider ordering some red tags yourself. Even after constantly nagging about it, I never received any in BC/AIT. lol http://www.1800nametape.com/dogtags.htm#RED This allergy is very common, not a big deal. However, you would have to debate whether you want your SSN on these when ordering them. (You're suppose to, but this is a private company you're giving that info to is what I am saying. Then again, you can put whatever on these and they will still take your money and send em)

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Im in the same boat. Except im allergic to penicilan. What should I do. Please help.

I'm not finding anything in the DoDi 6130.03 Medical Standards or the Med Regulation AR 40-501 stating that penicillin is a disqualification. So, I'm inclined to agree with the previous advice and state it's nothing to overly worry about. You'll likely be asked to disclose your allergy at MEPS so that you can get a red ID tag (dog tag) denoting your allergy in case of some kind of emergency.